Counts can choose to shirk their responsibilities to Americans. They can act with pure entitlement. A Count can push any extreme whim or want on us all, and deny the consequences of his actions.
And this violates
fundamental
American values.
We expect people with power to be responsible and accountable for their actions. No one is entitled to run from their responsibilities, or to evade the consequences of their actions.
Extreme money can turn any regular problem in America into an extreme threat. Elite, entitled Counts endanger America by wielding extreme E8, E9, E10, E11 Money Counts to:
- Deny their responsibilities. Whether Counts passively hoard or actively exploit their extreme Money Counts, they wield massive power that shapes American lives. Americans expect great power to come with great responsibility. But Counts can just take the power.
- Shift the blame to others. When Americans are harmed by a Count’s extreme money, he can afford to shift the blame. He can claim those Americans are the wrong race or the wrong gender, that they don’t have the right abilities, or that they didn’t try hard enough.
- Exempt themselves from responsibility. Counts can use extreme money to exempt themselves from any real responsibility. They use legal loopholes, corporate shields, accounting tricks. They manipulate words and images. They can overwhelm our public protectors.
- Retreat into make-believe. Instead of accepting their responsibilities, Counts can escape into make-believe. Virtual worlds, mind-altering drugs, extreme political theories. Unlike Contributing Americans, Counts can afford to live in denial and check out from real life.
- Stay like children. Counts never have to grow up. They never have to get a real job. Protected from the pressures and stresses of real life, Counts never have to feel the burden of responsibility. Counts stuck in arrested development never have to answer to others. They never have to learn that “no” means no.
- Play America like a game. Far from American neighborhoods, Counts can afford to treat America like a video game, with Americans as just background characters. Whether we live or die, it doesn’t matter.
On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Big Woods Declaration (BWD) renews the call for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free from the corruption of extreme money.
The BWD is a First Amendment petition to the American people and our government. It is not limited to any political party or group.
The BWD is a total of 60 pages: the Core Declaration (4 pages), the 13 Notes, the 27 Dangers to America, and the 16 Solutions for America.
The BWD may be shared and reused under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. View a copy of this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The BWD was created without the use of any AI, opinion polling, or focus groups. The BWD draws on many core American ideas as well as the work of Thorstein Veblen, America’s visionary from the Big Woods of Minnesota.
All photos in the BWD were taken in the Big Woods. The BWD was framed by Erik Christopher Sahlin with Alyssa Beth Wulf.
